Richard III by William Shakespeare
Act 1 - Scene 2
The same. Another street.
Lady Anne : Set down, set down your honourable load,
[p]If honour may be shrouded
in a hearse,
[p]Whilst I awhile obsequiously lament
[p]The untimely
fall of virtuous Lancaster.
[p]Poor key-cold figure of a holy
king!
[p]Pale ashes of the house of Lancaster!
[p]Thou bloodless
remnant of that royal blood!
[p]Be it lawful that I invocate thy
ghost,
[p]To hear the lamentations of Poor Anne,
[p]Wife to thy
Edward, to thy slaughter'd son,
[p]Stabb'd by the selfsame hand that
made these wounds!
[p]Lo, in these windows that let forth thy
life,
[p]I pour the helpless balm of my poor eyes.
[p]Cursed be the
hand that made these fatal holes!
[p]Cursed be the heart that had the
heart to do it!
[p]Cursed the blood that let this blood from
hence!
[p]More direful hap betide that hated wretch,
[p]That makes us
wretched by the death of thee,
[p]Than I can wish to adders, spiders,
toads,
[p]Or any creeping venom'd thing that lives!
[p]If ever he have
child, abortive be it,
[p]Prodigious, and untimely brought to
light,
[p]Whose ugly and unnatural aspect
[p]May fright the hopeful
mother at the view;
[p]And that be heir to his unhappiness!
[p]If ever
he have wife, let her he made
[p]A miserable by the death of him
[p]As
I am made by my poor lord and thee!
[p]Come, now towards Chertsey with
your holy load,
[p]Taken from Paul's to be interred there;
[p]And
still, as you are weary of the weight,
[p]Rest you, whiles I lament
King Henry's corse.
Lady Anne : What black magician conjures up this fiend,
[p]To stop devoted
charitable deeds?
Gentleman : My lord, stand back, and let the coffin pass.
Lady Anne : What, do you tremble? are you all afraid?
[p]Alas, I blame you not;
for you are mortal,
[p]And mortal eyes cannot endure the
devil.
[p]Avaunt, thou dreadful minister of hell!
[p]Thou hadst but
power over his mortal body,
[p]His soul thou canst not have; therefore
be gone.
Lady Anne : Foul devil, for God's sake, hence, and trouble us not;
[p]For thou
hast made the happy earth thy hell,
[p]Fill'd it with cursing cries
and deep exclaims.
[p]If thou delight to view thy heinous
deeds,
[p]Behold this pattern of thy butcheries.
[p]O, gentlemen, see,
see! dead Henry's wounds
[p]Open their congeal'd mouths and bleed
afresh!
[p]Blush, Blush, thou lump of foul deformity;
[p]For 'tis thy
presence that exhales this blood
[p]From cold and empty veins, where
no blood dwells;
[p]Thy deed, inhuman and unnatural,
[p]Provokes this
deluge most unnatural.
[p]O God, which this blood madest, revenge his
death!
[p]O earth, which this blood drink'st revenge his
death!
[p]Either heaven with lightning strike the
[p]murderer
dead,
[p]Or earth, gape open wide and eat him quick,
[p]As thou dost
swallow up this good king's blood
[p]Which his hell-govern'd arm hath
butchered!
Lady Anne : Villain, thou know'st no law of God nor man:
[p]No beast so fierce but
knows some touch of pity.
Lady Anne : O wonderful, when devils tell the truth!
Lady Anne : Vouchsafe, defused infection of a man,
[p]For these known evils, but
to give me leave,
[p]By circumstance, to curse thy cursed self.
Lady Anne : Fouler than heart can think thee, thou canst make
[p]No excuse
current, but to hang thyself.
Lady Anne : And, by despairing, shouldst thou stand excused;
[p]For doing worthy
vengeance on thyself,
[p]Which didst unworthy slaughter upon others.
Lady Anne : Why, then they are not dead:
[p]But dead they are, and devilish slave,
by thee.
Lady Anne : Why, then he is alive.
Lady Anne : In thy foul throat thou liest: Queen Margaret saw
[p]Thy murderous
falchion smoking in his blood;
[p]The which thou once didst bend
against her breast,
[p]But that thy brothers beat aside the point.
Lady Anne : Thou wast provoked by thy bloody mind.
[p]Which never dreamt on aught
but butcheries:
[p]Didst thou not kill this king?
Lady Anne : Dost grant me, hedgehog? then, God grant me too
[p]Thou mayst be
damned for that wicked deed!
[p]O, he was gentle, mild, and virtuous!
Lady Anne : He is in heaven, where thou shalt never come.
Lady Anne : And thou unfit for any place but hell.
Lady Anne : Some dungeon.
Lady Anne : I'll rest betide the chamber where thou liest!
Lady Anne : I hope so.
Lady Anne : Thou art the cause, and most accursed effect.
Lady Anne : If I thought that, I tell thee, homicide,
[p]These nails should rend
that beauty from my cheeks.
Lady Anne : Black night o'ershade thy day, and death thy life!
Lady Anne : I would I were, to be revenged on thee.
Lady Anne : It is a quarrel just and reasonable,
[p]To be revenged on him that
slew my husband.
Lady Anne : His better doth not breathe upon the earth.
Lady Anne : Name him.
Lady Anne : Why, that was he.
Lady Anne : Where is he?
Lady Anne : Would it were mortal poison, for thy sake!
Lady Anne : Never hung poison on a fouler toad.
[p]Out of my sight! thou dost
infect my eyes.
Lady Anne : Would they were basilisks, to strike thee dead!
Lady Anne : Arise, dissembler: though I wish thy death,
[p]I will not be the
executioner.
Lady Anne : I have already.
Lady Anne : I would I knew thy heart.
Lady Anne : I fear me both are false.
Lady Anne : Well, well, put up your sword.
Lady Anne : That shall you know hereafter.
Lady Anne : All men, I hope, live so.
Lady Anne : To take is not to give.
Lady Anne : What is it?
Lady Anne : With all my heart; and much it joys me too,
[p]To see you are become
so penitent.
[p]Tressel and Berkeley, go along with me.
Lady Anne : 'Tis more than you deserve;
[p]But since you teach me how to flatter
you,
[p]Imagine I have said farewell already.
Gentlemen : Towards Chertsey, noble lord?
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Next: Act 1 - Scene 3
